After spending his weekend doing something productive (as opposed to being glued to TV, video games or social media…), the 14 year-old was excited to go to school Monday morning (Sept 14) to show off the electronic clock that he built. By the end of the day, though, the Irving, Texas (Dallas suburb) teen had been accused of attempting to incite panic by bringing a hoax bomb to his high school. Ahmed Mohamed had been arrested, handcuffed, fingerprinted, had mug shots taken and was interrogated by numerous law enforcement personnel.

The upside, however, is that media coverage of this non-terrorism event led to Ahmed being invited by President Obama to bring his clock to the White House and also by Mark Zuckerberg to visit him at Facebook (see the report by NPR). Ahmed has stated that he would like to attend MIT (he’s off to a good start considering he’s only a high school freshman).

Although politically this event is being viewed through the lens of Islamophobia, as a long-time engineering educator, I see this as an example of the wretchedly poor state of STEM awareness within the public at large. It would appear that school officials were clearly aware that the device was not a real bomb (he was charged with bringing a hoax bomb to school). However, it would also appear that the school officials were equally unaware of the existence of an electronics hobbyist sub-culture in this country. President Obama was spot on when he tweeted “We should inspire more kids like you to like science.” However, I would go a few steps further. Let’s start by reminding non-STEM educators that inside the smartphones in their pockets and purses is some way-cool electronics and software that was designed by folks just like Ahmed Mohamed.

We ‘geeks’ and ‘nerds’ are stereotyped as being completely socially inept (ever watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory?) and yet few people consciously consider how their modern lives are inextricably entwined with the products and services made available by the techno-wizards. Pro sports figures are celebrated in this country even though the service they perform is essentially that of a traveling minstrel (arguably even less so since traveling minstrels brought news of the world at large in addition to providing entertainment).

The United States became an economic juggernaut not by having the world’s best entertainers. Rather, it did so by inventing and producing things that the country and the rest of the world needed. Numerous countries around the world sit on vast natural resources and yet have not been able to leverage that to better the lives of their citizens. The United States, by contrast, has a culture that allows inventors to flourish (even if they are not necessarily celebrated like our sports heros).

It is the initiative of people like Ahmed Mohamed that creates companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google and Adafruit. Haven’t heard of Adafruit? It’s a multi-million dollar company that produces kits for electronics do-it-yourselfers (DIYers). It was founded about ten years ago by an MIT grad student (Limor Fried) in her dorm room. Maybe Ahmed will follow in Limor’s footsteps. As reported by Inverse, Ahmed has accepted an invitation to attend next week’s Maker Faire in New York. Limor Fried has been attending since she was Adafruit’s only employee …